Whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, the Fall Career Days can benefit you in ways you might never imagine. If you think you are too young or too inexperienced, think again. Attending Fall Career Days on September 11-13 from 11:00-4:00 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center just may be the thing to set you ahead of the game and prepare you for future years in college and after you graduate. September 11 is devoted to full-time non-technical jobs, September 12 is devoted to internships and co-ops, and September 13 is devoted to full-time technical jobs.

Besides having the obvious goal of obtaining an internship or job, you may take advantage of speaking with potential employers and recruiters to gain insight on different types of companies, what employers are looking for in their entry-level hires, or how to conduct yourself in a professional manner. By speaking with professionals, you can learn what kinds of questions they want to know about a student’s work or college experience and how to appropriately respond. If you have never held an internship before and want to learn how to make yourself a marketable candidate, what better way to find out than actually speaking with the types of people that may hire you one day?

Most students who choose to attend Fall Career Days have one objective: to obtain a position. If you have no idea where to start, please visit the Career Services website and follow their many links to tips and tricks to help you succeed. For freshmen, you can find out ways to volunteer at the fair to familiarize yourself with what happens for future years. For sophomores and juniors, Career Services and the Career Enrichment Network can help you with your search for internships. For seniors, the Career Services website gives you a list of all companies that are attending and what full-time positions they currently have open. Companies such as Bates White, Consolidated Graphics, Northwestern Mutual, and Capital One are a few examples of companies that are particularly looking for Liberal Arts students, so they may be worth exploring a bit beforehand.

The Career Services website has resources available about how to dress, what to say during your 30-second pitch, and how to approach the 400+ tables that will crowd the BJC in a week. One particularly interesting tip mentioned is that along with bringing hard copies of your resume and writing samples, you may want to also bring an electronic copy of those materials on a jump drive, as some employers may ask you to directly upload it on their computer. With the many other tips mentioned on the Career Services website, you will be surprised with the amount of preparation you can do just by going online.

An even better way to prepare is to visit the many workshops held in room 103 of the Bank of America building (where Career Services is located) in the days leading up the Career Fairs. Here are some you may want to consider:

September 4
4:00 p.m. – Effective Resumes
5:15 p.m. – Interview Prep for Non-technical Career Fields
6:00 p.m.- Dress to Impress, sponsored by Macy’s

September 5
4:00 p.m. – Finding Your Top 5
5:15 p.m. – After the Handshake

September 6
4:00 p.m. – Effective Resumes
5:15 p.m. – Interview Prep for Technical Career Fields
6:30 p.m. – Career Fair Prep for International Students

September 10
11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. – Resumania (resume reviews by HR professionals)
5:30 p.m. – What Questions Should I Ask Career Fair Recruiters?*

*This event will be held in the Grandfather Clock Lounge in Atherton Hall with Lincoln Financial Group. Pizza will be provided and resumes will be accepted. All majors are welcome.

By attending these workshops, you can gather advice and information from the people at Career Services – who, by the way, speak directly with employers visiting campus and know what those employers are looking for – and also get a better sense of what to expect when you set foot into the BJC. That way, you’ll know exactly what to look for and how to act when Fall Career Days roll around, and the only thing you will have left to worry is about getting your appropriate outfit dry cleaned in time.

In the next few days, upload your resume to Network Symplicity so someone from the Career Enrichment Network can review it (or have it reviewed at Career Services), attend a few workshops, make an appointment or drop by to see me or another Career Enrichment Network staff member for any specific questions (schedule appointments through your Network Symplicity account), and get started on the path to success!